International Digital Divides and Economic Development Patrick Gaston

I. .Framing the Issue: It is good to be here at the meeting of the ., and to talk about one of the most exciting aspects of the

2 1" century: the fast growth of a new force on the planet. It holds the potential for incredible benefits for individuals and societies who can fully, and wisely, obtain, master and utilize its power. Correspondingly, there will be an incredible loss of opportunity for those who do not master it and maximize its potential. The situation as (you) philosophers well know, is an old one: Prometheus's fire, Pandora's box, The philosopher's stone- human history is fil l of stories of how humans encountered strange new forces that could enrich or destroy, fulfill or deny the dreams of humankind. The new force, of course, is the New Electronic Media, which is creating a new age fro humankind around the world, The Information Age.

Now (humor) I shall not rank the New Electronic Media on the same level as those wonderful mysteries of old. It is not based on Vulcanic fires, but on zeros and ones, megabytes and gigabytes, computers and satellite dishes and frequency bandwidths. It is the tedious product of usually unassuming scientists, not the stuff of mythic heroes. Yet, (as) philosophers (you) will easily see the exciting challenges posed by this new force which is taking a central place on the stage of the 21" century. It is itself a blend of fast information- processing computers and a global network of almost infinite digital text, audio and video communications and information.

The most important thing, however, is the impact on, and meaning for, those who will reap the benefits of the new Information Age and how they will do it. By that I mean the impact on everything from the everyday world of people and communities, to macro- issues of government policies, economics and education.

In these opening months of the 21St century, at the dawn of the Information Age, we live on a planet of human of have and have nots. In this century, and in this new Information Age , who has the information communications capabilities, and who doesn't, constitutes the issue we call the Digital Divide, and it will be a major determinant of who will be the haves, and who will be the have nots, in the coming years. The Digital Divide is, then. a crystallized image of the challenge to humans around the world that is posed by the global rollout of the New Electronic Media and its connecting network: the World Wide Web.

First. let me state that the three largest piece-parts of the New Electronic Media are:

1 .)Computers and other audio and video information processing devices; ?.)Connectivity of computers to the global information hi-way, via

(te1e)communications networks and computer software, and.. .

3.)The vast, global information network World of the World Wide Web, and its enabling program software, which makes virtually infinite information available to everyone around the world who can access the World Wide Web.

(pause for part 11.. of the talk)

11. The Challenge: First let me say that the entire discussion must be couched in the '

context of economic growth and social fulfillment. And success in these factors varies among the countries in the Caribbean region. In economic growth, recent United Nation statistics show a significant range- from countries experiencing 3-5% growth rates- to countries struggling to avoid negative growth rates.

One basic challenge to developing countries in closing the digital divide and entering the new Information Age is the technology and communications infrastructure starting point. United Nations reports tell us that while in the developed countries about 50 of 100 persons have main line telephone access, the percent varies vastly among Caribbean countries, from around 55 per 100 in the U.S. Virgin Islands to around twelve in Jamaica, around five in Cuba and two per 100 in Haiti. We see that many of the most populous Caribbean countries have the lowest rate of telecommunications access, resulting in a number that is less than 15 per 100 persons for the entire Caribbean region.

Another crucial characteristic of the New Electronic Media and the World Wide Web, is the speed of its rollout around the world. Because it started in the United States and certain European countries, these places have a great head start on the rest of the world. And because these are the, economically, richest and most "developed" ,

countries, they have moved far earlier and deeper into this new and powerful Information Age. Let me give you a brief statement from the U.S. Department of Commerce about the growth of the E-economy in the U.S. It conveys a good image of the power of this new force, The New Electronic Media. This " Digital Economy 2000" report states that:

"Although IT (information technology) industries still account for a relatively small share of the economy's total output--an estimated 8.3 percent in 2000--they contributed nearly a third of real U.S. economic growth between 1995 and 1999." And "employment in the software and computer services industries nearly doubled, from 850,000 in 1992 to 1.6 million in 1998. Over the same period, employment in those IT job categories that require the most education- and offer the highest compensation-such as computer scientists, computer engineers, systems analysts and computer programmers- increased by nearly 1 million positions. or almost 80 percent."

In other words, the New Electronic Media is already having a major effect on the

economies of the most developed countries. Its impact on the stock market in U.S. is also well known. Now, what about its impact on the developing world? Here statistics vary. But the following statistics were reported by Uwe Afeman of the University of Hanover, Germany, to an international workshop in Malaysia last year and are presented in an "interasia.com" article:

"In January 2000 there were about 72.4 million (website) hosts on the Internet, says the Internet Software Consortium. The Third World (however) is still participating with a mere three per cent (of the total). About 85.3 % of worldwide Internet hosts are in the G7-countries, which make up only about ten per cent of world population. On the other hand the most populated countries of the Third World, China, India, Brazil and Nigeria all together make up less than 1 % of all hosts, (although they have) more than 40 % of world population".

This, then, is some indication of the Digital Divide. Further:

"In developing countries there are (usually) only full Internet connections with all . services in the capital cities."

The "interasia" article goes on to'state that,

"In March 2000 there were about 275.5 million users world wide on the net, which corresponds to 4.78 percent of the world's population. Nearly 40 per cent of all Americans are online. In contrast only 7 of 1000 Chinese have access to the Internet"

There is good evidence, however, that developing countries are entering the Information Age at an ever-faster rate. In September 2000 article in the Detroit Free Press.. . .

"Ernest Wilson, an international development specialist at the University of Maryland, said his research found information technology growing by 18 percent a year in developing countries, compared with 23 percent in industrialized nations." This, however, means that the Digital Divide "gap continues to grow despite improvements through programs from the United Nations, the World Bank and other organizations."

It is important to remember that that 5% persisting gap is also significantly exacerbated '

by the vast difference in the "starting positions" that gave rise to the digital divide in the first place.

Other experts in the article go on to support Wilson's theme. Reinhart Helmke, executive director of the U.N. Office of Projects Services states that:

"There are more Web sites originating here in New York than in all of Africa," There are more Web sites originating in Finland than in all of Latin America and the Caribbean." Helmke said the digital divide "would be better described as a digital chasm." He said the global economy cannot be sustained if some countries are left out.

Neysan Rassekh, founder and president of Global Technology Organization says the problem must be tackled "country by country, town by town, citizen by citizen."

The challenge is simply this: who will be able to obtain and effectively use this revolutionary information power, and who will not. That is the challenge of the Digital Divide. (pause)

And perhaps the most appropriate way to consider that challenge is from wisdom of a Chinese proverb: Challenge is also Opportunity. Which one of these two aspects predominates is determined by how skillfully developing countries deal with it. I would recommend that we spend much of our time here considering the issue of how we can deal with the Challenge of the Digital Divide.

And so, on to how Caribbean countries can convert Digital Divide Challenge into Information Age Opportunity.

111. Opportunities. And indeed there are many very positive and exciting prospects.

An article at " www.digita1 dividends gap stats" reports that:

"The internet connects 100 million computers, yet that represents less than 2% of the world's population. With much of the world's economic growth now driven by information and telecommunications technology, such a gap, were it to persist, could have serious social consequences. BUT, digital networks are spreading at unprecedented speed, with forecasts of as many as one billion Internet connections deployed around the world by 2005, and three billion by 201 0. That's more than enough, in principle, to connect every village and every family on the face of the earth".

This article clearly shows that the New Information Age represents both a daunting challenge and a tremendous Opportunity for developing nations. As we have seen from those U.S. economic growth statistics, the New Electronic Media is going to be a big driver of economic (and employment) growth. The trick is to quickly start considering how to develop new communications technologies in each country that tie into the general economic and business potential of that country

NOW, some sources like the following "Miami 1nternet.com" news article takes an optimistic stance about developing countries entering the global information economy. This report states that:

"E-commerce is set to explode in Central America and Caribbean during the next four years placing the region as a whole on par with Mexico, Argentina and Brazil, a new study concludes. The study, conducted by the IDC division of International Data Group, Inc., estimates that there will be 1.6 million people online in the two regions by year end and that those numbers will swell to more than 4 million by 2004. By the end of 2004, those Internet users will have spent $1.7 billion or more online."

We know the challenge is to develop how to make sure that as much of that $1.7 billion estimate of on line commercial revenue stays in those Caribbean and South American countries through goods and services that are created and sold within each country- or more accurately- in inter-regional transactions. And then further, how that money can fuel even further economic growth, and on and on- the old multiplier effect that you all recall from your Economics 1 class! That is the Opportunity of the new Information Age. And that is why we must quickly close the Digital Divide.

The Administrator of the UN Development Program, Mark Mallock Brown, put it well when he stated that:

"The goal must be for information technology to deliver revolutionary breakthroughs in terms of giving the world's poor access to the global economy."

(pause)

We should note that several factors are at play in developing Opportunity strategies. We need to consider such things as:

Geography- such as the island nature of the Caribbean community Infrastructure Proximity to the U.S. as a hub of both technology and commerce Language- Spanish, English, French, Dutch National priorities and policies. The political landscape

The Caribbean region has 350,000 Internet subscribers. That is a small base (perhaps 3% of the population on which to develop enough expertise to lift a regional economy to world-class levels. It is possible, however to foster, in each country, expertise in a few selected application areas, therzby avoiding the temptation tc become masters of all applications and frittering awa) the precious limited financial and human resources of the country and, collectively, the region.

One good thing is that the new Information Age systems and technologies offer avenues for fairly low capital investment, and achievable technical training requirements. This can

open a host of ongoing economic and business opportunities in Caribbean countries. What I am saying is: that in the midst of this vast Promethean Challenge, Opportunities do abound

Carla Fiori, CEO of Hewlett Packard, in a recent address to the U.S. Governor's Conference explained the revolutionary promise of the global Internet economy in this way:

"The first vector is what we call e-services. What we mean by an e-service is we are now entering a time where any asset, any process, can be turned into a service that is available via the Net. Any asset. Any process. And these services, these assets, these processes that can be made available over the World Wide Web can be dynamically created, dynamically brokered, dynamically located to create a community that works for you."

That is the Opportunity of the new Internet economy. That is the incentive to eliminate the Digital Divide.

Capital and high technology-intensive land line infrastructures, computing equipment and sophisticated software design and marketing opportunities may be well outside the high percentage "probability of success" boundary for almost every Caribbean nation. However, great opportunities for many developing countries probably lie in smaller, less costly, areas of the Information Economy. These opportunities include U.S. (and other developed country-based) large companies who are looking to outsource various aspects of their e-commerce operations to small. overseas companies- such as handling telecom and web-based marketing, including computer assisted call centers.

For home grown e-commerce, areas of advertising, and marketing locally produced goods and services- for instance tourism, is a good area for exploration. Another good area for exploration is the new generation of knowledge-based information products and services. E-training for education of the in-country student, and adult, population is yet another example.

The key will be to select a small number of niche applications that are expected to grow in importance and where the home country has the comparative advantage it will take to succeed.

Still other examples of areas for developing country e-commerce lie in the business-to- business e-commerce, which is expected to grow to about $7 trillion dollars by 2004. Most of that activity is expected to be in parts and services supply to manufacturers - in other words traditional supply chain activity that is now increasingly conducted in

cvberspace instead of by telephone calls, printed catalogs, RFQs and postal and courier service. Amidst that $7 trillion there are thousands of opportunities for the creative and careful planner and the energetic .entrepreneur.

And we know the Caribbean people have always been a well-spring of creative and znergetic entrepreneurs. One such group displayed the following challenges that are involved in nurturing an e-commerce base in developing regions. This is from an article in "Caribbean Export.com," this January, 200 1 :

"Caribbean producers now have many problems selling their products and services through the Internet. Caribbean Export wants to help them overcome those problems by opening an online mall.

With the explosive growth in electronic commerce internationally, the organisation is going to ensure that its planned online "Caribbean shopping mall", will set standards in the region.

Caribbean Export recently held a planning session in Barbados with those interested in working with it to establish the shopping mall.

Individual companies have a hard time trying to raise money from the banks for such projects. Caribbean Export can bring small and large companies together .to facilitate an E-commerce solution for all of them.

Key issues to be resolved include payment issues and arrangements for product delivery and distribution, and it is likely to require the main physical distribution center in the US. This would boost the capacity to effectively supply the North American market."

I have no way of knowing about the details of this example, but it does offer proof that creative E-economy entrepreneurs are plentiful in the Caribbean. The challenge is how do their countries organize the resources to nurture and develop them.

IV. Alchemv: Realizinp the Opportunitv; HOW we turn the Challenges into the Opportunities and the Opportunities into Realized economic development and social fulfillment for developing countries is the realm of the Caribbean economic and social development leaders as well as the energetic entrepreneurs such as the one we read about.. This is the proverbial alchemists' secret of making something valuable by working with a potential material. Here (chance for humor again), if we are not rigorous and realistic in our work, we can return again dangerously close to creating myth! The insightful conception and implementation of realistic Information Age action strategies,

urhether on an individual business basis, or a country-wide governmental and public policy basis is the work of the alchemists of success in the New Information Age: The main catalytic ingredients must include:

Strategic Public Policy Planning Public and Private Resource Allocation Education and Training Ingenuity and Entrepreneurship

Public Policv. A pro-active public policy can spur all areas into spirited and confident action. Wise policies can point the country down the most effective paths to success in the Information Age. Let me give you an example. At the start of my talk I mentioned that a basic challenge to developing countries was to increase telecommunications access throughout its population. Well, public policies that encourage the development of new and often time-and-cost communications solutions, for instance wireless- or other new technologies that are becoming truly practical solutions can really help its people to participating and reaping the benefits of the Information Age- and E-economy- much more quickly and cheaply.

One key public policy, mentioned before, is to prevent a web of regulations that thwart the inflow of needed capital and communication technology for waiting local entrepreneurs and communities.

My company, Verizon, for instance has been a strong proponent of pro-active government policies which both stimulate private initiative and free in from binding regulations. Verizon has encouraged tax policies which stimulate modernization and growth of new communications rollout; the central premise being that lesser tax burdens on a rapidly expanding base of new communications activity produces a higher long run yield than higher tax burdens on the older, existing or embedded communications infrastructures. (Pat, do you want to say this differently?)

We also maintain that public regulatory policies should be examined to see if they thwart, with too many restrictions, the ability for energetic communications companies to build the totally integrated local and long haul, wire and wireless, voice and data networks that are essential for efficient delivery of the multi-media communications of the New Information Age. Governments also need to examine, in the light of the needs of people in the New Information Age, the net benefits of current government restrictions on wireless technology uses in their countries.

Other public policy and legislative and regulatory issues that my company believes are critical to the optimal evolution of effective New Electronic Media networks are:

Issues of Privacy in Communications, and

Tax policies towards e-commerce.

We hope that some of the public policies we have sought and supported may provide some examples of directions that other governments can explore in developing their public policies. (pause)

Resource Allocation. I believe that both public and private agencies in developing countries, and indeed in developed countries, need to make insightful evaluations and action decisions on how sufficient public and private resources can be allocated throughout the country's social fabric to spur effective- access, involvement and benefit- from the new information technology and networks.

In the private arena, Verizon has been very pro-active.

Verizon's special role in our new economy is to use our national scale, our vast resources, and the talents of more than a quarter of a million employees to deliver the benefits of advanced communications to evervbodv. As our communities prosper, so will our company.

Our commitment now extends nationally as VZ continues to seek out minority partners outside of our traditional footprint.

One of the prime corporate avenues of high impact resources allocation which furthers broad social involvement in, and .benefit from, the rollout of the new communications systems, is Verizon's long history of aggressive minority business contracting. The policy goal has consistently been to:

Increase minority purchasing and subcontracting. Last year:

The direct purchasing and subcontracting target for minority owned businesses was $ 1.4 B or 16.58% of regulated procurement dollars by the end of the 3rd quarter of 2000.

Verizon also has demonstrated how a successful New Information Age company can help to develop strength in the overall economic strength of the society. For example, from the wealth generated from its successfbl operations, Verizon is allocating increasing amounts of its financial resources for minority firms to invest on Verizon's behalf Of the many examples, 1'11 give three illustrations.

Since announcing the launch of its minority managed Discovery Fund two years ago at the Rainbow Push Convention, Verizon's commitment to the - Discovery Fund has doubled - now valued at

$107.7 M, AND in a basically flat market, that investment grew over 7% in 2000.

Another Verizon initiative has been: Pension lnvestments

Verizon committed $70 million in pension assets to private equity funds managed by minority firms.

Minority firms now manage a total of $25M in VZ pension assets, There is a new initiative whereby the Foundation will be funding minority owned financial institutions (banks, credit unions, savings and loans) through the use of FDIC Insured CD's (100,000).

Yet another initiative Verizon has been in Asset / Capital Management:

In 2000 Verizon had an average $1.06 Billion of outstanding commercial paper placed by The Williams Capital Group, L.P., and used Williams Capital as broker to sell $104M of publicly traded equity securities.

In 2000 more almost one-half billion dollars worth of VZ bonds were underwritten by minority firms.

These are great examples of the benefits realized by Verizon's increased scale and scope. Hopefully, they will offer some idea of the great potential for committed resource allocation policies, including resources from successful Information Age businesses can spur Caribbean, and other developing countries and corporations to actively develop their Information Age industries and develop aggressive resource allocation policies.

(pause)

The Verizon Foundation is another avenue by which financial resources are allocated through to help vitalize the general social infrastructure needed to produce citizens that can effectively engage in life in the new Information Age.

Verizon Foundation Diversity lnvestments 1997-2000

Year Total African American Hispanic Asian Native American 1997 $56M $6 .2M11.0% $5.5M 9.8% $4.3M 7.6% $3.5M

This numbers demonstrates Verizon's consistent commitment to growth in resource allocation. It also demonstrates to other societies how a successful New Information Age business can benefit the development of that countries entire social fabric.

(pause)

Education. Another area of resource allocation in which my company can offer an example of effective direction is the area of education. In the case of developing countries, one big issue becomes how to prepare enough of the population to successfully create and operate some of the global e-economy business opportunities we have discussed. It is also important to remember that education must also provide enough human resources to energize the develop of the total national economy and society from which e-commerce derives its ideas, products, services, capital and delivery mechanisms for broad and sustainable entry and success in the global marketplace.

As you probably know, this issue was addressed on a global scale eleven years ago by the . World Conference on Education in Jomtien, Thailand. Last year the Caribbean countries met in Santo Domingo and agreed to a1 5 year Regional Framework of Action under the "Education for All concept of 1990. Among its prime educational issues, the February 2000 Caribbean "Framework" cited "insufficient availability and use of information and communication technologies." And it cited one the major "Challenges" as being "to adopt and strengthen" the uses of communications technologies in Caribbean education.

This, as you also know is a big priority in education in the U.S. PCs and Internet access has increased dramatically In U.S. classrooms. Now upwards of ninety percent of schools in the U.S. have some computer presence in the educational process and a majority of these engage in Internet access and use of the World Wide Web. This achievement has been significantly encouraged by the government's E-rate public policy making use of effective communications networks and technologies more affordable to schools. I am proud to say that, once again, my company, Verizon, was the corporate industry leader in campaigning for the achievement of the national E-rate for schools. Since the inception of the E-rate program, the roll out availability spread across rural, suburban, and inner- city has been more reasonably (but still not perfectly) uniform. In some measure this is a "success" for the E-Rate This could be a good model for educational public policy and legislation regarding education and Information Age communications in Caribbean countries

~t any rate. to fashion achievable goals to close the Digital Divide in Caribbean countries it is necessary to start with the existing base of computers and Internet access in each country m d in the region as a whole.

Less evenly distributed in the U.S. are the teachers who are competent to harness PCs and Internet as an integrated tool in the learning mix. Practical roles for PCs and communications was clear to most non-educators for at least a decade, but in the U.S., teacher's colleges have just begun integrating them into training for teachers. Of the total cost for harnessing Internet to boost learning, teacher training was estimated by the National Information Infrastructure Assessment Commission -as higher than the cost of the PCs themselves. and about twice as much as the cost for wiring the classrooms and providing Internet access service. Unfortunately there has been no consistent investment in teacher training even though it is an essential component in the mix. I would call upon the Caribbean countries to learn from our short sightedness in this matter and invest now in teacher training in New Electronic Media training.

The degree to which cumculurn has been successfully adapted to harness technology in meaningful ways is unclear. Keyboarding courses and programming courses and uses by students do NOT, in themselves, foster critical thinking skills. So new curricula, integrating knowledge and thinking skills with proficiency in the use of communications technologies to enhance this knowledge and information is a must.

Communitv. Very important is non-school- or community based- education. On the job training can turn a low-wage worker into a very productive worker, therefore a worker able to earn much higher income. Policy planning and resource allocation for community-based education is very important for Caribbean countries, as it is in the U.S. Community buy- in for this type of education is critical. Verizon found in its Christopher Columbus School project that enthusiastic parental involvement- not casual assent, but full and regular contact with the technology in children's curriculum- makes a huge difference in test results, and the community's satisfaction with educational technology.

The community involvement in digital divide education is also very important because evidence for income and culture as driving factors in adoption of high tech in the home.

In the U.S. the ethnic category with the highest household participation rate in the Internet is Asian-American. The ethnic category with the highest rate of PC purchases is now Latino-American. The rate of increase in African Americans is also higher than the overall rate of increase in the nation. In the U.S. we are finding that the digital divide is probably NOT, a racial issue per se, but may be more a matter of local communities exciting themselves and their kids about the potential for them in the New Information Age. or the next problem in need of an entitlement solution.

For communities, cost has always been a major factor. That was much more a barrier in

the early Jays when the technology that was both expensive and of limited value In 1995 the Internet was little more than a gleam in technophile's eye. Then, a decent PC (sluggish), modem (too slow by today's standards), a year's worth of ISP service, and web browser (then you were lucky to see anything that was not purely textual), would cost about $2200. Today, the same functionality with a ten-fold increase in content diversity and visual quality, and faster by a factor of at least 4 is available for $700 -- one-third the nominal 1995 price. That is a 5-fold increase in affordability, and arguably a 10-fold increase in real value. We should not be surprised that low-income households are only now signing on to the Internet. So countries and communities just getting started now will enjoy the benefit of these drastically lower costs and higher functionalities.

Verizon, through its Citizenship Education Fund, is underwriting the cost of the telecommunications-related projects. Verizon's commitment is $500,000 payable in two equal installments of $250,000 in 2001 and 2002.

Also it is an axiom that community based education, in combination with in-school education provides a powerful attractor for overseas business investment in a developing country or community. Private investment from overseas can be fostered if there is the right infrastructure, a diligent workforce, and track record of stable, amicable relationships between government and overseas investors. Workforce education in technology should be pragmatically biased, job-skill related, and germane to the kind of IT and e-business applications being encouraged.

Before leaving the subject of the Alchemy of Realizing Opportunity just want to briefly mention Assessment as a major ingredient in the social alchemists arsenal that is necessary to achieve optimal results in developing successful strategic plans and policies: whether for Caribbean entrepreneurs, communities or national governments. Rigorous assessment can produce wonders

At the macro-level the need is to assess national and local resources, including national and local communications infrastructure; population education level in general, and technical skills in particular, and especially those that relate to computer and digital communications skills; national and community, public and private, wealth to support education, training, communications facilities and services updating, and new business capitalization.

Each Caribbean country and community should assess its major economic, social and cultural components: their basic strengths and weaknesses, and consider how they might become resources for successful growth in the Information Age society and economy. We should pose these questions to all of our major institutions- Government, Industry, Education, Community infrastructure, etc.:

"What can each of our major institutions do in the area of developing a strong computer and digital communications infrastructure-based infrastructure- especially in the area of web (Internet)-based communications? And what are they actually doing?"

"How do each institution's strengths contribute to our ability to eliminate the Digital Divide and create vibrant development and productive use of the web-Internet-based communications as part of our overall communications infrastructure development?' And.. .

"How can "these asset- these processes that can be made available over the World Wide Web- be dynamically created, dynamically brokered, dynamically located to create a community that works for you?"

In Ireland- telemarketing and customer service, and in India- data entry, software authoring and maintenance, have been successfully developed and promoted as areas of national competence

Of course, we must also ask: How do our economic, social or educational weaknesses inhibit our ability to develop an effective web-based digital communications infrastructure? These areas must either be avoided in establishing niche areas of country (or community) competence; or they must be aggressively addressed in resource allocation-as for instance in education.

We must then involve our major institutions in joining in a commitment to providing the needed resources, such as the banking resources referred to in our earlier Caribbean entrepreneurial example.

V. Finally, I would like to say again that I hope that the several examples of Verizon's pro-active initiatives presented today can serve as Models for Effective Actions that can be taken to achieve energetic entry by developing countries and communities into the new Information Age. In closing, I would like to offer some additional smaller organizational Models and Resources for helping to close the digital divide that Verizon has worked with in the U.S. I hope this will also serve to illustrate the need to develop a number of community-based initiatives whose variety of special skills can be accessed by the country or community to achieve our stated developmental goals for the Information Age.

In 1996, the Foundation of the precursor company to Verizon, the Bell Atlantic Foundation (NYNEX), made a three-year, $1 million grant in 1996 to the National Urban League. That grant was designed to help the League implement the first phase of its

multiphase strategy to operate community-based technology centers that would make the technology available and accessible to urban residents

Over the last five years, the seed grant from The Bell Atlantic Foundation has helped the League establish and operate community-based technology centers in urban communities. On a daily basis these centers bring educational, civic, and economic benefits of the digital age to low-income, unemployed people of color who might otherwise have been bypassed.

By the end of 2000, the Bell Atlantic grant will have seeded the creation of 70 Urban League Digital Campuses operated by affiliates across the country that are addressing the access and affordability issues of concern to civil rights advocates and public officials throughout the 1990s.

The League also directs attention to the "New Digital Divide" - the under representation of African Americans in the highly skilled job categories of the Information Technology (IT) workforce and the access to wireless technology. This is because the demand for Information Technology (IT) workers is large and growing. Employers will attempt to fill 1.6 million new IT jobs in 2000. By the year 2008, the United States will require more than two million new, highly skilled information technology workers.

The League also It operates a Math & Science Project for Middle School Children, on Saturdays for sixth grade students designed to enhance the math and science experience of 6th graders. The League works with local school districts and local community colleges, to provide hands-on learning concepts and experiences that ultimately encourage children to take higher level math and science classes - algebra in the 8th grade and calculus in the 12th grade.

The Urban League also ha launched community Information Technology education programs for adults. This program teaches adults IT skills in the areas of PC support, A+ certification, networking skills and to obtain certification in these related fields (i.e. MOUS, MCSE, etc), and seeks to increase the number of African American workers who . obtain employment as IT professionals. Graduates will obtain employment as Network Engineers, PC Specialist, Network Administrators, Help Desk Representatives, and PC Technicians. The objective of :he program is to increase the number of qualified African Americans for positions in Information Technology. The Urban League also works in collaborations and participates in meetings and hearings with the US Department of Commerce and the Federal Communications Commission.

The Urban League is very aware of the cost and deployment advantages of wireless technologies for bring quick Information age access to economically disadvantaged communities. It operates twenty (20) Urban League affiliates will conduct outreach training programs at local community based locations (churches, other community based

organizations. etc.). The training programs will use Verizon Wireless technology (laptops with Verizon wireless modems or air cards). The program is designed to teach low-income residents and those unexposed to the Internet, the importance of using technology and accessing the Internet Verizon will provide the hardware and software as ' well as funding for the 20 affiliates to conduct the training programs.

In this presentation we have discussed the need for various institutions to work together in developing a country or a community's Information Age capabilities. The Urban League provides us with a Model for this kind of cooperative development.

Another Model is the Citizens' Education Fund project of [Pat is this RainbowPush?) CEF's project will provide internet-related training and assistance to minority-based community grcilps and minority owned businesses. As part of this initiative, CEF will partake in Verixon Foundation's E-PartnerIE-Training program, which provides training to those nonprofits in need of developing computer and Internet skills. The primary programmatic thrust of CEF involves youth development and to empower the community through the effective use of technology.

California Consumer Protection Foundation.

The. CCPF is a California regional group which was selected by members of Hispanic, Asia-Pacific and African American groups to direct money to programs throughout the state that provide access to telecommunications and information services, education and telemedicine and programs that promote literacy and economic development in low-income, ethnic, minority, limited- English-speaking and disabled communities.

These groups hailed the Community Collaborative Fund as a major step toward providing underserved communities with access to telecommunications and information services, telemedicine and programs that promote education, literacy, and economic development.

," Viola Gonzales, executive director of Latino Issues Forum says that "These funds are critical investments in narrowing the digital divide and represent a creative and substantial response in providing access to both basic and advanced services for our vulnerable and low-income communities in California."

Verizon has provided the first installment of and eventual $2.5 million to the California Consumer Protection Foundation (CCPF). Verizon will contribute the remainder of the $25 million in annual installments through 20 10.

In the Caribbean the Caribbean Association of National Telecommunications Organizations (CANTO) is aggressively engaged in the development of

communications solutions to the Challenges of economic and social development in the Caribbean. An important feature of CANTOS is that it is a collaborative regional organization that provides an inter-country perspective for analysis of regional assets and resources for- and for the potential of new communications technology to provide solutions to- the Challenges of economic and social fulfillment in the New Information Age.

(PATRICK, Here's your closing): I am sure that the Caribbean has a wealth of community organizations and initiatives which can be mobilized to find solutions to the closing of the Digital Divide and the vibrant participation of the Caribbean region in the new Information Age. The Net, in fact, is good way to find and network these resources.

I am also confident that the tremendous potential of the New Force of the 21St century, The New Electronic Communications Technologies and the World Wide Web will be obtained, mastered and skillfully utilized by developing nations around the world, includi.ng here in the Caribbean, to help usher in a century in which we humans conquer the age old issues of economic underdevelopment, inadequate health and education services and unfulfilled social and cultural potential.

You can be certain that my company, Verizon, will be aggressively using its technology and other assets to make this happen. Thank you all very much.